Our knowledge about oral health has increased dramatically over the years. For many of us growing up, the biggest concern you had was protecting your teeth from too much sugar!

Cavities from tooth decay are always something we have to be wary of. But today, it seems that more people lose their teeth as a result of periodontal disease than tooth decay.

Fortunately, the solution to periodontal disease is quite simple. All you need to do is:

brush your teeth at least twice per day;

each time you brush, you need to use proper technique and take 2 minutes to do a thorough job;

floss your teeth at least once per day; and

visit the dentist at least twice per year.

A simple commitment of 5 minutes per day brushing and flossing, plus one hour every six months visiting us at Rideau Dental Centre is all it takes. Given how easy this sounds, you would think that we should be well on our way to eliminating periodontal disease.

Yet recent statistics out of the United States paint a surprisingly different picture. A study of adults 30 years of age and older indicated that 47.2% of the population suffered from some degree of periodontal disease. These results were significantly higher than anticipated. Even worse, 64% of seniors had either moderate or severe periodontal disease.

People in lower income brackets tend to suffer from higher levels of periodontal disease. The same can be said for people with lower levels of education. Of course, smoking is one of the major contributors as the damage it does to your gum tissue is significant.

While this is an American study, it is hard to imagine the results in Canada being significantly different. That begs the question as to why periodontal disease is so prevalent given how simple the remedy is.

Part of the answer may simply lie in the attitude people have toward oral health. Despite the fact that medical science is increasingly demonstrating the link between oral health and overall health, another study showed that 40% of iPhone users would rather give up their toothbrush for one week than their iPhone!

When a device of convenience is considered more important than one’s health, it is not hard to see why periodontal disease could be on the rise! Clearly, more work needs to be done to get the word out about just how important oral health is.

At Rideau Dental Centre, we are always happy to do our part to help educate our patients on the importance of good oral health. To those of you who have taken this to heart, we appreciate your dedication to yourselves.

Perhaps the greatest favour you can do for your friends and family is help spread the word. Introduce them to us so we can help educate them and improve their oral health. Because eliminating periodontal disease is a healthy habit…and healthy habits lead to healthy lives.

Dr. George Parry

Dental Surgeon

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Patient Education

Patient education library includes information on various topics ranging from dental care to oral health problems.